NSF COLDEX 2023-24 GNSS/IMU Level 1 instrument measurements from Dome A, East Antarctica

Abstract

These data comprise the RINEX formatted GNSS observations for flights in the 2023-2024 COLDEX field campaign, as well as the raw Novatel SPAN logs with rotation and acceleration information. The survey aircraft, Basler C-FMKB, had three GPS antennas (MKB2, MKB3, and MKB4) mounted on each wing and on the tail, and a single GNSS antenna (MKB1) mounted on roof near the center of gravity of the aircraft. Multiple receivers can be on each antenna. Data was recorded by a Javad Quattro-G3D (JVD) on all four antennas at 1 Hz, and on the wing antennas at 10 Hz, the Novatel SPAN OEM4 (NVT) on MKB1 at 1 Hz, and two Topcon NET-G3A (TG3) on the tail and one wing at 10 Hz. A 2 Hz Trimble Net R5 on the ground was operated for most flights (ZWD1 at Williams Field, or ZSP1 at South Pole), along with high rate Earthscope data from South Pole Station (AMU2). Data is organized in a hierarchy with the following levels: *Instrument type *Flight *Season *Receiver (designated by antenna) *Flight *UTIG Stream name ASCII RINEX data are generated by UNAVCO’s teqc program and include: *nav - GPS Nav Data *rnv - GLONASS Nav Data *obs - GPS Observation data _________________________________________________________________________ SPAN data are binary files containing both the NVT GPS data that is reformatted as RINEX above, but also IMU messages. Formats for these OEM4 data can be found at Novatel’s website: https://hexagondownloads.blob.core.windows.net/public/Novatel/assets/Documents/Manuals/om-20000047/om-20000047.pdf